Babysitting Beth
by igotsoulbutimnotasoldier
Summary: Shelby has a dinner date so Puck and Quinn babysit Beth for her. As Shelby is moving back to New York and taking Beth with her, she let's them spend some more time with their daughter. One shot.


Author's note : I do not own any of the characters. All rights go to Fox and Ryan Murphy.

"Puck, what's taking you so long? It's time for Beth to eat her dinner." said Quinn as she tapped her fingers impatiently on the kitchen's table top.

"Coming Q! We're just chilling...aren't we, Beth. Daddy P and Baby B just chilling in the crib." Puck came out carrying Beth who was wearing a cute floral dress and a freshly changed diaper ( courtesy of Puck). Shelby had a dinner date with a friend and as she was going to leave Lima soon to go back to New York, she had arranged for Quinn and Puck to babysit Beth for the night. After all the drama between the three of them, they had a short discussion and all agreed that they should put the episode behind them in the best interest of Beth. Shelby had dutifully apologised to both Puck and Quinn whilst Quinn apologised to Shelby for planting stuff in her house. They were now on good terms and Shelby had decided it would be best for Quinn and Puck to spend more time with Beth as they would probably not see her again after she moved back to New York.

"Is that a wet spot I see on your Rolling Stones shirt Puck?" Quinn spied a yellow patch on his shirt. "She peed on me. No biggie, I'll just wash up later." said Puck as he placed Beth carefully in the baby chair. Quinn was holding a jar of baby food in her left hand and a tiny spoon in the other. "Ewww...is that her food?" asked Puck as he stared at the gooey yellowish-greenish stuff in the small glass bottle. "Yeah, apparently it's suppose to taste like assorted fruit." Quinn said, reading the label on the bottle. " It looks disgusting. Beth, I'm feel sorry for you. If daddy had his way, he would make you bacon flavoured baby food. What the hell is wrong with baby food companies anyway?" Puck shuddered, obviously disgusted by the sight of the food. Beth, on the other hand was waiting patiently for her dinner. "Okay, open up Beth. Here comes the aeroplane!" Quinn fed a spoonful of baby food into Beth's open mouth. She swallowed it quickly and opened her mouth for more. Quinn laughed "You sure are hungry, Beth. See Puck, she doesn't care about the way it looks, maybe it taste great to her." "Whatever. Once she has teeth, she's gonna regret eating that mush. Beth, daddy's going to go wash up now because you decorated his shirt with you know what." Puck jogged off to the bathroom.

Quinn fed Beth spoonful after spoonful and she was really getting the hang of it. After they were done, Quinn carried Beth to the sofa and sat down with the baby on her lap. Beth was staring at her with her big brown eyes. She looks so much like us, me and Puck. Quinn thought of the day Beth was born and everthing she had to endure throughout her pregnancy. Deep in thought, she didn't notice Puck coming out from the bath. Beth started crying a bit, desperate for attention. "Oops, sorry Beth...I was just thinking about stuff." Quinn patted her gently " Mummy's sorry, Beth that she can't be there for you in the future when you fall down and hurt yourself or when you have your first heartbreak. Shelby is your mum now and she'll take real good care of you. Better than I ever will. She's the one who will comfort you when you are sad and she'll attend all your recitals and concerts. I'll miss you so much when you're gone but I'll always remember you in my heart. Daddy too. I love you Beth." Sighed Quinn as she hugged Beth. As if she understood, Beth grasped Quinn's little finger tightly.

"Hey." Quinn jumped a little at Puck's voice. He went over to the sofa and sat next to them. He had overhead the whole thing and it just made him sad that he couldn't be there for Beth in the future too. He couldn't imagine not being there for Beth if she fell down and scraped her knee. Or if some little punk messed with her. And if Shelby married someone, that guy would be Beth's dad and she would probably never remember him and Quinn. Just the thought of it made Puck feel like bawling, but he pushed that thought straight to back of his head. _No, don't you start. You have to be strong. For Quinn_ _and for Beth. Live in the moment. Enjoy your time with her._ He told himself mentally and put on a smile. "Beth, daddy's smelling fresh now. Let's watch a cartoon together with mummy."He cleared his throat "So, Princess Beth, would you like to watch "The Wiggles", "Dora the Explorer" or my personal favourite "Barney and friends?" Puck said as he held up the three dvds in front of Beth. Beth giggled for a bit and then gestured to the Barney dvd. "Ahh, excellent choice. Barney knows his stuff unlike Dora who is too stupid to know the way to wherever she's going. She has to ask you kids instead. What a dumbass." "Puck! Language!" Quinn said, horrified. "Sorry, ma'am." Puck saluted, then inserted the dvd into the player and pressed play. Quinn watched as Puck settled back on the couch next to her. She put Beth between them and together they watched Barney and his friends sing and dance. Slowly but surely, Quinn, Puck and Beth drifted to sleep. The exhausting day had caught up with them.

"Beep!" "Beep Beep!"

Puck awoke with a start. His phone was beeping away and he immediately checked it.

You have one message.

It was from Shelby. And it was sent 45 minutes ago. _Shit, did I really sleep that long?_ Puck read the message.

_Puck, I might be coming home later than I expected. Please make sure Beth is in bed before 8.30. Thank you. And sorry for bothering you and Quinn_.

_Bother? It's no bother at all!_ Puck thought as he replied the message with _an OK, sorry for late reply. Couldn't find phone_. After hitting 'send', he then noticed that the Barney video was still on. Turning it off, he looked at Quinn and Beth who were both sleeping soundly. Quinn had her arm draped protectively over Beth and Beth was leaning against Quinn. He smiled at the adorable scene and then suddenly got a brain wave. Grabbing his iPhone, Puck took a photo of the sleeping girl and baby. He then tagged it as "My Girls" and saved it as his screensaver.

He glanced at the wall clock. It was already 9 pm. Quickly, he carried Beth off the sofa as gently as he could without waking up Quinn. Halfway to her room, Beth woke up and started crying.

Quinn woke up. Shoot, what time is it? I feel asleep. Where's Beth? Quinn looked around. Suddenly, she heard Puck's voice plus Beth's crying coming from inside the room. She tiptoed towards the room and looked in.

" Beth, don't cry. Shh..Daddy's with you." Puck was soothing Beth who had almost stopped crying. Quinn smiled to herself. Everyone thought that Noah Puckerman was a mean, tough guy but they would be surprised if they saw how good he was with little ones. _Hard on the outside, soft on the inside._ Quinn thought as she stept into the room. "Hey, you're awake, Puck said as Beth hiccupped her last sob, "Shelby texted me. She said she would be back later and that Beth should be in bed by 8.30. And it's already 9 so we've got to get her back to sleep." Puck handed Beth to Quinn who put Beth into her crib.

Puck and Quinn both sat over Beth who refused to fall back to sleep. They tried every trick in the book from warm milk to singing lullabies, but she would just stare at them. Finally, Puck decided that he would tell her a story. A special one.

"Okay Baby B, daddy will tell you a special story and afterwards, you need to sleep. Understand? If not, when Mama Shelby returns home, she won't be too happy and she might cut daddy's balls off."

"Puck! Again, language! Stop polluting Beth's mind!

"Oops, slip of the tongue. Sorry Beth, just forget about that last bit."

"That's better."

"Long time ago, there was a magical kingdom called McKinley. There ruled a handsome but dumb king and a beautiful queen. They were young and in love. Well, so they thought. In the kingdom of McKinley, the king and queen are chosen every year by votes. Therefore, they were not real royalty. The king had a best friend who lived in the village of McKinley. His best friend was a young, brave, loyal, handsome, awesome-"

"Overdoing it much, Puck?" Quinn chuckled

"-amazing man. He was a dragon slayer. The best in the land. Mr. Dragon Slayer was in love with the queen who had been his first love when she was still a villager, but the dragon slayer was always loyal to the king and so he did not reveal his hidden love. However, one day after the dragon slayer visited the king, he bumped into the queen. The queen was sad because her father had been mean to her and the king was too busy to notice. So the dragon slayer offered to have a drink with the queen. However, one thing led to another and they-ermm..did something that they should not have done. Soon, the queen was expecting a baby and the king was happy. But what he didn't know was that the baby belonged to the dragon slayer. Once the king found out, he was really angry. He kicked the queen out of his castle and soon, fell in love with a girl wizard who could sing really well and could make berries appear out of nowhere."

Quinn laughed. Puck's imagination was crazy.

"The dragon slayer took the ex-queen into his home and they were very happy together. He took good care of her. The queen had always secretly love the dashing dragon slayer and she loved their soon-to-be-child too. Soon, the baby was born and she was a lovely baby with golden hair. Alas, the dragon slayer was poor and the queen was disgraced and they both knew they could not keep their lovely child. In the end, the queen and the dragon slayer gave their baby away to the girl wizard's mother as they knew she could take care of their child better than they could. The new mother of their child, Shelly left McKinley to go to the island of Newyorko.

"After their child was brought away, the queen suddenly turned cold towards the dragon slayer and they drifted apart. The queen met a knight who had lips like a fish but then got back together with the king whilst the dragon slayer got together with a local lady from the magic shop. But their relationships failed, as they knew that they were in love with each other."

"One day, Shelly returned with the baby girl. The dragon slayer was overjoyed and met with his child. But the queen had bigger plans as she had missed her child deeply and decided to use magic to get her back. The dragon slayer however disrupted her plans while falling for Shelly. But the love he felt for Shelly was all just an illusion created by himself. The queen failed in her plan and soon became overcome with sadness and anger. But no one tried to help her, except the dragon slayer who still loved her. He pieced the queen back together and soon, she was healthy again. The queen realized that she was wrong and amended herself and those who she had wronged. The dragon slayer also got back together with the queen and they lived happily ever after. As for their child, they loved her and got to spent the rest of their days with her. The end. True story."

"Puck. You do know that she fell asleep halfway through, don't you?"

"Huh?" Puck was so absorbed in his fairy tale that he didn't notice that his daughter was sleeping. "Oh well, at least it worked. Goodnight Beth."Puck kissed her forehead and Quinn tucked her in. They then quietly moved out of the room and shut the door gently.

"Nice story." said Quinn once they were seated back on the couch.

"Thanks, I didn't know I could tell a decent story. Once when I was 10, I tried to tell Hannah a story about the three little pigs but then I forgot the ending so I just said that the wolf ate all of them and went home satisfied. She was traumatised." Puck crossed his arms and leaned back.

"Haha, very funny. I pity Hannah, you probably destroyed her innocence early on. What a bad brother. At least, you're a better dad." Quinn joked.

Puck grinned at her and put his arm around her.

"Puck?"

"Yes Quinn?"

"The last part of the story? When the queen and the dragon slayer got to spend the rest of their days with their child? That not gonna be true, you know." Quinn said quietly.

"Yeah, I know. It was what I wanted to be true." sighed Puck as he pulled Quinn closer to him. " We'll miss her so much ,won't we Quinn? I can't believe that we just met her after two years and now she's leaving again."

"At least we got to meet her again. Hopefully, she'll remember us."

They cuddled for a while. Things heated up a bit when they started making out. Suddenly, they heard a creak and they sprang apart just in time as Shelby came in.

"Hey guys, thanks for taking care of Beth. Sorry for being late, we kind of got carried away with all the small chat. Is Beth asleep already? Did she-"

Puck and Quinn answered all of Shelby's questions politely and then excused themselves as it was getting late. As Puck drove Quinn home, the conversation revolved around Beth.

"This may be one of the last times we get to see Beth, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. When I'm older, I'll go over to New York to find her and tell her I'm her mum."

"With me?"

"No, with Peter Pan and magic elves. Of course with you, Puck."

He grinned "I love you Q." _Best day ever_, he thought.

She grinned back "Love you back, Puck."


End file.
